‘Luck,’ Season 1, Episode 7: TV Recap

This week, “Luck” is all about patterns and cycles, how some characters strive to break them and how others get caught up in them again no matter how hard they try. Joey’s stammer is back, but he’s back in the thick of things, while Ronnie is attending anonymous meetings to fight his addictions. Jerry decides to give the poker tables another go, but this time he plays his way into the World Series of Poker, and he even finds romance to the apparent chagrin of Marcus. Even speech patterns come into play in an unfortunate development for Ace’s grand scheme. This is a David Milch show, after all.

Sadly, one cycle “Luck” itself can’t break, despite its numerous strengths, is its weak treatment of female characters as little more than devices to add depth to the male characters, and it hasn’t been more clear this season than in this week’s episode. Horse racing is mostly a man’s world, sure, but that doesn’t mean the women on the show can’t be complex or even just a bit interesting. If anything, the balance in favor of men should make for even richer female characters as they contend with a way of life seemingly not made for them. There’s already a lot going on with this show, anyway, so I’m not advocating unnecessary complications. Ideally, though, some of the characters should be trimmed, and all of the remaining ones, particularly the women, should be given their due.

Until then, we’re left with seeing the great Joan Allen once again relegated to the most rote kind of supporting work, simply acting as a guide for Ace as he tours her character Claire’s retired-horse farm. Why even bother casting such an acclaimed actress for a part interesting only as a cog in Ace’s character development? She’s even an afterthought when, toward the end of the episode, Nathan Israel is telling Mike and his partners about Ace’s intentions.

Then there’s veterinarian Jo Carter, who’s mainly just there as a target for trainer Turo Escalante’s snotty barbs and lust. Last week, we found out she was pregnant, but we learned nothing more about her as a character. This week, the Jo-Escalante plot line gets a little more interesting, though, but only because the mystery around the trainer deepens and Jo’s pregnancy only ends up adding richer shades to his character.

Toward the beginning of the episode, Jo and Escalante encounter a man and a boy hanging around the stables. The boy, named Eduardo, is overjoyed to be behind the scenes of the sport, even asking if he could get a look at some jockey’s goggles. Jo, in turn, takes an interest in him, but his guardian, apparently his uncle, charges her $10 for the privilege to hang out with the kid for the day. It all seems so mysterious, especially when you see the man and Escalante exchange looks. The man even calls Escalante “patron,” a word that means “boss” but carries a fatherly connotation. Escalante clearly cares for the boy, too, despite his prickliness: When he returns Eduardo to his home, he gives him his number and tells him to call if he ever needs anything. Later on, after Jo reveals to him that she’s pregnant, he sits and broods for a minute, gazing at a picture of a young boy and a horse. Could Turo be Eduardo’s father?

The only woman on the show with any real depth is the young jockey Rosie, but one gets the sense she’s only given this much complexity because she’s actively trying to take on a “man’s job.” But, hey, it’s something. This week, Rosie knows her spot riding Walter Smith’s Gettin’ Up Morning is in peril, so she enlists Joey as her agent to find out. Walter, who’s got another big headache with the legal issues from Kentucky, tells the stammering agent that he’ll tell Rosie himself. When he does, he lets her down gently. Ronnie, who pledges that he’s going to stay clean this time, will take over. But, by the end of the episode, Ronnie’s back to grinding and snorting painkillers, while young Rosie is sitting alone in her room, smoking and doubting herself.

Meanwhile, track rat Lonnie decides to try to break his own pattern on relying on his group of friends. He means to strike out on his own and put a claim on his very own horse that won’t likely be part of the friends’ Foray Stables. He claims a filly belonging to Escalante, and once, the race starts, it looks like he made the right choice as the horse blazes along. Young jockey Leon, however, senses something wrong with the horse, named Niagara’s Fall, and pulls up. The filly has suffered a torn tendon and won’t be able to race anymore. Lonnie, still, can earn money off the horse by putting her out as a brood mare for breeding purposes. Another female character shortchanged! (Niagara’s Fall also leads to a funny exchange about the Three Stooges among Marcus, Lonnie and Renzo, who resemble Moe, Curly and Larry, respectively, in some ways.)

The episode’s biggest development, however, comes in Ace’s story line, even though it doesn’t directly involve Ace. Nathan Israel has another meeting on Mike’s yacht, only this time it’s one-on-one with the snarling old crook. Mike doesn’t trust Israel, and he tries to rattle the young finance expert. Later, Mike and his cohorts get Israel to spill the beans on Ace’s intentions, but he’s still not quite being honest. He’s giving them pretty much what Ace expects him to give up. The turning point comes when Israel presses Mike on a point, only to get a question in response. “Answers a question with a question,” Israel mutters, mimicking a reprimand he’s received from Ace. Mike immediately recognizes this syntactical pattern and bashes the young man’s head with a heavy ashtray. Horrified, Mike’s partners demand to know what he’s up to. It was the kid’s “syntax” that tipped him off to his “allegiance” to Ace. Then, to drive the point home, he whacks Israel again, leaving him in a puddle of blood.

So, readers, what did you think of this episode? There are only two more left this season, so what plot points do you see being resolved, if any? Do you fear for any of the characters? Where do you think it’s all going? Please leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

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